Tutoring Session 39
by worblehat
Summary: NarutoXSasuke. Highschool AU. Sasuke tutors Naruto, despite distractions.


**Title:** Tutoring Session #39  
**Pairing:** Naruto/Sasuke  
**Rating:** PG  
**Notes:** Written for starfreckled on LJ.  
**Summary:** A short study ficlet. Highschool AU.

* * *

"Get it?"

Naruto blinked. He took the pencil out of his mouth, smiling sheepishly. "Um. I sort of...wasn't paying attention." He laughed nervously. "Can you explain one more time?"

Sasuke slammed the book shut, causing Naruto's papers to slide off the edge of the desk and into the waste basket.

"Hey!" Naruto reached down, collecting his papers, brushing them off and setting them back on the table. Shooting Sasuke an angry glare, he spat, "You're supposed to be tutoring me! Not throwing my hard work into the trash!"

"It's where it belongs," Sasuke retorted, shoving his book angrily into his bag. He rose to leave; Naruto's hand clamped down firmly onto his arm. "Let. Go. Of. Me."

"Your parents told you to get my grades higher!"

Sasuke made a face. "I can't see why. The effort is very obviously not worth it."

"Because...uh." Naruto concentrated for a few moments. "I'm a poor, struggling student?"

Pulling his arm out of the other's grasp, Sasuke smirked. "Then get a job."

Naruto mumbled something.

"What was that?"

Glare increasing, Naruto shouted, "They won't hire me anymore!"

"Who won't?"

"The ramen shop down the street," Naruto answered, looking a little guilty.

"Why not?" Sasuke pressed, when the blond didn't say any more.

"They, uh...said I ate too much of their food on my lunches." Naruto blushed. "They give you one meal for each shift. But I eat a little more than usual so I guess they...didn't like that."

Sasuke snorted.

"It's not funny!" He turned around, his back bent over his homework, pretending to write.

Sighing, Sasuke sat back down, pulling his books back out of his bag and setting them slightly apart from Naruto's own. "Naruto."

When he didn't answer Sasuke reached over, yanking his pencil away.

"Bastard," Naruto grumbled.

"Idiot."

"Go away."

"Sit up," said Sasuke, grabbing Naruto's shirt and pulling him upright. He poked Naruto in the cheek with his pencil before returning it to him, smiling when Naruto continued grumbling and rubbing his cheek. "All right, let's try this again:

5X2125. Find X." 

"What if I don't want to?"

"Shut up and do it anyway," said Sasuke, turning to do his own homework.

Several minutes passed in silence as Naruto concentrated, breaking the silence only to ask Sasuke simple questions before nodding, saying "oh...right," and continuing. When the third-to-last problem had been done, he leaned back, rubbing at his eyes.

"You still have history left to do," Sasuke reminded him quietly.

"I know," said Naruto with disinterest. Leaning his head against the palm of his left hand, he inclined his neck slightly to look at his tutor. "Hey...Sasuke?"

"What?" responded Sasuke, turning a page as he continued to read.

"How come you know all this stuff?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto questioningly.

"I mean...how come you're so good at it?" Naruto clarified.

"It's called studying."

"But Kiba studies and he still only makes B minuses." He leaned closer. Sasuke began to feel uneasy. "How come you're so smart?"

"I don't know," he said, wanting to pull back further but staying obstinately where he was, Naruto's face just a few inches from his own. He was pretty sure the closeness could be attributed to Naruto's distinct lack of observational skills in regards to personal space. Though he privately hoped this wasn't true; the idea of Naruto sitting like this with other people angered him for reasons he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. "Genes?"

"...Oh." Naruto's blue eyes studied him a minute longer, before he turned back to his homework. "That's what I thought."

Sasuke felt grateful for the drop in attention. His cheeks were oddly warm.

Forcing himself to focus only on the pages in front of him, Sasuke glared at the black text, willing the information to seep into his brain, despite his thoughts being elsewhere. He'd only been tutoring Naruto for three months, but where he'd once dreaded the blond showing up to his house, he now looked forward to it. Naruto made him feel human, as opposed to the girls (and some of the boys) at school who looked at him as if he were something from another world. It was true that Naruto looked at him the same way some of the time, but it was usually after seeing that Sasuke had managed top scores, was eating his favourite food or had, one time, brought ramen to school for lunch, just to see what was so great about it.

_This is useless_, he thought, closing his eyes. He opened them again slightly, sneaking a glance at Naruto who was hunched over his work, back rising and falling in time with shallow, contented breaths.

Pushing his chair back, Sasuke stood and walked around to Naruto's side of the table, staring down at him. The blond's mouth was open a fraction, a hint of a smile on his lips. How long Sasuke stood watching, he wasn't sure; before he knew it, his hand had reached out, fingers feathering Naruto's hair lightly. Naruto stirred in his sleep but didn't wake up completely. Sasuke's fingers trailed down Naruto's neck, sliding softly against his cheek. His thumb rubbed gently over his lips and Sasuke's breath hitched ever-so-slightly as he felt the warm breath of Naruto's mouth exhaled against his digits.

A funny, sharp, hot feeling pooled in his stomach. He licked his lips, awkwardness stilling his movements until he pulled away.

Naruto's eyes opened immediately. He sat up. "Do you touch a lot of people's faces when they're sleeping?" he asked, an unreadable expression on his face.

Sasuke didn't have an answer.

"Because that's kind of a weird thing to do to someone you hate," Naruto said.

"I don't hate you."

Returning to his chair, Sasuke pointedly refused to meet Naruto's stare as he tried once more to force his mind to focus on the words in front of him instead of on the words Naruto had just spoken.

_...It_ was _pretty weird_, he admitted to himself. _Why did I do that, anyway?_ He stopped his thoughts there, not wanting to face what was getting harder and harder to ignore.

"I'm done."

Sasuke was pulled out of his reverie. Somehow, just over an hour had passed. He looked at Naruto. "Even the reading?" he asked, his voice sounding strange to himself.

"Yeah." Naruto laughed. "Why? Did you plan to keep me here all night?"

Sasuke's eyes widened, then shrank back to his usual scowl. "I was waiting for you to leave. I expected the time to be more torturous."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto shoved his items back into his bag and stood. "Anyway, I'm going."

"Fine."

"Grumpy bastard."

Sasuke didn't bother to respond, leaning his head against one palm and pretending to read. He waited for the door to close; instead he heard footsteps.

"Sasuke?"

"Hm?" he asked, turning his head. Mouths met awkwardly above the desk.

_Naruto's lips are soft..._

He closed his eyes, his own lips parting under Naruto's tongue.

A few seconds later, Naruto pulled back, grinning - his face one bright blush of pink. "So...I'll see you tomorrow?"

"...Yes."

Naruto turned, pulling the door open - stopping when Sasuke spoke again.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"...Kiss me."

Naruto smirked. "Been wanting to for weeks. I didn't think you'd go for it, until you did the weird face-touching thing."

"...Oh." Sasuke frowned. "It wasn't _that_ weird."

"It was," stated Naruto matter-of-factly. "But I liked it."

"...Oh," said Sasuke again, feeling stupid.

"Might not want to do that at school, though," laughed Naruto, pulling the door behind him quickly enough to miss the small tape dispenser aimed at his head.

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered, smiling into his palm.


End file.
